Self-deprecating or arrogant, it's all selfish. Hard as it is, life's better when you spend more time on the rest of the world

When I eat something like vegetable bibimbap, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling of eating stuff that I grew up with.

When you're a little kid, you just like music that makes you happy and is fun. As you get older, you reach college or your 20s and you decide that music should be challenging and all art should be smart. So you start to think it makes you like high art more to put down things you consider low art. I don't even think things are low art.

There's a certain fear of simplicity. I think that's the thing when you're younger as an artist you get this idea in your head that complexity equals quality. The more notes you're playing, the better.

Speed is absolutely key to creativity. The more time it takes to create something, the less likely you are to create something.

I think you can totally be a totally normal kid from the suburbs of Chicago and go off and play shows. It's one of those things that when you go home, you're still the nerd you were when you left, and your parents still get to yell at you about cleaning up your room, and your girlfriend still drags you to the pet store.

When you're No. 1 or No. 300, you still get to play and write the songs.